


Problems with my sleep

by bluevelvt



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bonding Moments, Cat Ears, Cat/Human Hybrids, Cuddling & Snuggling, First Kiss, Fluff, Kemonomimi, Kitty keith, Literally Pet Names, M/M, Pet Names, Purring, look levi i finally wrote something
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-04-27 14:47:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14427759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluevelvt/pseuds/bluevelvt
Summary: Lance never really expected to come across Keith asleep in the lounge, or inviting Keith to come back to his room, or falling asleep with the hybrid and (he's going to count it as) cuddling. He didn't expect it, but it wasn't unwelcome or anything like that. The crush that followed definitely wasn't unwelcome either.OR Lance falls in love with Keith, who just so happens to literally be part cat.





	1. Issues with my sleep

**Author's Note:**

> to quote my good good friend levi, "kitty keith fic is the most highly anticipated fic of 2018"

_“Lance McClain - documented as “human”_

_Keith Kogane - documented as “human, hybrid”_

_Further information on “human, hybrid” - Hybrids are a sub-species of human created through genetic experimentation. They have feline qualities including the ears and tail of a cat, sharp canines, and the ability to purr. Those are not all the physical traits and hybrids do have some “cat-like” instincts and parts of their personalities are said to be similar to a house-cats. Their history is one of…”_

* * *

 

Lance knew, deep down, that still being awake vargas after even _Pidge_ had gone to bed was bad. He really did try to fall asleep, but nothing seemed to work? Not even trying to say all the constellations he knew in alphabetical order? Anyways, his last effort attempt at sleep before shoving himself in a pod before “morning” was going to get a glass of milk.

Or at least that’s what it would have been if he hadn’t noticed Keith asleep in the lounge.

Keith was a _fiend_ for falling asleep in his clothes with his boots still on, but seeing his rival drooling a little in his sleep was nice. Different, but it was still nice. Most interactions Lance had with the other boy were in battle or in training. Sometimes he’d come along to a “mandatory” movie night or just hang out around Pidge or Hunk, but instances like these were rare. Just seeing Keith with a soft smile on his face and a gentle voice, ears up and the tip of his tail twitching, did something to Lance, leaving him flustered and giddy. Yep, Keith was definitely a fie-

“QUIZNAK!”

“Wha- Lance?”

“IT’S FINE I JUST TRIPPED!”

Sure enough, Lance was facedown on the floor of the lounge and Keith was definitely awake, ears twitching and hair being a fluffy mess after. Keith was somewhat shocked, but better off than the other who was going to end up with a bruise by tomorrow after that fall.

The hybrid stretched out his arms while trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh…” _quiznak, Keith doesn’t deserve to be this cute,_ “I couldn’t fall asleep so I thought that a midnight run to the kitchen to grab some milk would help.”

He yawned, “It’s definitely later than midnight, or whatever qualifies as midnight. I usually hear Pidge still working our playing the video game you too got from the space mall at this time. I just hear the castle humming.”

“Wait, you can hear all that?”

“You can’t?” Keith’s head tilted to his side.

“Nope,” Lance said, popping the ‘p’.

“Oh, hybrid perk then.”

“Is another hybrid perk being able to sleep with boots on, because this- this is bad, what are you doing and how are you living your life like this?”

“I- It’s easier and more practical,” his face flushed a bit. Could it be that Keith Kogane was embarrassed?

“It’s easier and more practical,” Lance mocked. “Sure it is, but sleep is about resting and being comfortable. Come on, we’re going to my room so I can get you into some proper pajamas before you return to your cat nap in, you know, an actual bed.”

“You can’t just call it a cat nap because I’m a hybrid.”

“But you are an idiot who needs guidance in being comfy. Plus, I use the term ‘cat nap’ all the time. We pilot giant robotic magic cats, I think a lot about kitties.” _And you, as well. Wait, quiznak. Gotta stop thinking about Keith,_ “Now come on, we’re going to fix all this. This is the closest we’re going to get to a space reality TV makeover show.”

Lance held out his hand for Keith to take in helping him get off the couch, and even though Keith did roll his eyes, he gave this breathy little laugh while his eyes crinkled a bit, the Castle’s lighting just making his violet eyes even more brilliant, and took Lance’s hand, allowing him to be pulled up next to the taller boy. This was definitely the start of, to quote Keith, ‘a bonding moment’, and he could only think _Somehow, this boy is going to be the death of me_.

“Then lead the way, Sharpshooter.”

“Be prepared to have your mind _blown_ , Samurai.”

 

 

As soon as Keith sat down on Lance’s bed, Lance started talking, “Okay so, before you ask why I have the red paladin pajama set in my room, I have an answer. I was going to prank you and have you go looking for them but you just, never did? Then I got lazy and didn’t return them. Oh, I should probably make a hole in the pants for your tail to go through, ‘cause you’re either going to look like a wannabe hip-hop artist with saggy pants or just look like somebody cut off your tail. Either way, you’d look weird. I also bought _this_ awesome shirt at the space mall, and it should be good for sleeping in.”

Lance proudly waved the shirt in Keith’s face, much to the hybrid’s delight. The shirt in question was covered in anime characters. Lance had originally bought it to make fun of Pidge for watching anime even though _he_ watched anime, but it fulfilled a higher purpose by having Keith wear it.

“Oh, wow. Thank you? I- I didn’t know I had these or that you stole them, but thanks for these. And your weird anime shirt… Can I cut the hole myself? I don’t really trust you with that.”

“You don’t trust me with scissors?”

“No, I don’t trust you with knowing how to deal with clothing that isn’t made for hybrids.”

“Mm, that makes more sense. Anyways, you can spend your time adoring me later, put those on,” Keith walked over to the bathroom attached to Lance’s room after taking the pajamas into his arms, just not before Lance could yell, “AND IF YOU WEAR SOCKS TO BED, I’M THROWING YOU OUT THE AIRLOCK.”

“Heh, try and stop me,” the bathroom doors closed.

Doing all of, well all of _this_ with Keith never seemed like something that would happen. The boy was the ‘loner’ as Pidge had deemed him. Most of his time was spent alone or with Shiro, and with the snippets of information he had surrounding Keith’s past, he could tell why he was like that. Instances like these were rare. Apparently, he had been cradled in Keith’s arms after their fight with Sendak (something Keith called ‘a bonding moment’) and even though Lance really didn’t remember it, he could tell that Keith had put a lot of importance on it. So, maybe this was a good way to fix that.

Commence Bonding Moment 2.0.

His whole “rivalry” with Keith was built on Lance’s jealousy of the other. He got perfect scores, attention from Shiro (the Garrison’s golden boy), and had so many people fawning over him. He was what Lance wanted to be. The time together as paladins kind of destroyed that rivalry. Yeah, they would still fight over anything, but it was friendly. Keith also became more… human. Well he did in Lance’s eyes. Even for a hybrid, his personality was pretty cat-like. He took a while to warm up to the team, and even though he wasn’t so good at expressing his thoughts, it was evident that he really cared about and became pretty loyal to them all, including Lance.

Having Keith care about him was… sweet. Unexpected, but sweet. And perhaps, Lance cared about Keith too. Truly cared, more than just teammates. Maybe they were friends now. Maybe other words worked better.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the bathroom door opening. Keith stepped out and gave a spin to show off his new look. Somehow, he looked good in it. The red pajama bottoms fit well enough, and he did do a good job and cutting a hole for his tail. The shirt was a bit big on him, but it was in that adorable oversized way. It still depicted anime characters (nothing changed and nothing should change, that shirt was pure gold). And the quiznaking cherry on top:

Keith had a ponytail.

Of course, his bangs still hung in front of his face and it hair was a little awkward around his ears, but the high ponytail showed off Keith’s neck and it, well it got rid of the mullet. _Keith’s hot… headed. He’s hot-headed._

“This is- it’s actually pretty comfortable.”

“You like them? You sure you don’t want the lion slippers too?”

“Lion-” Keith was interrupted by his own yawn, “Lion slippers?”

“Mhm, we all have them. Not sure what Blue’s opinions are on me literally wearing her on my feet, but I’m her pilot so if she lets me fly her, she’s gotta let me wear some very fashionable footwear… Not gonna lie, you seem pretty tired.”

Keith yawned before he was even able to nod yes with a small “Mhm”.

“Okay, how about this,” Lance maneuvered the hybrid to sit on his bed while he stood up, “I’m going to go to the kitchen and see if we have any milk from Kaltenecker in there like I was going to do before I bumped into you, I’ll grab you some, and we can hang in here till you go back to your room. Sounds good?”

His ears seemed to perk up and his tail seemed to twitch in joy with the mention of ‘milk’. _Guess some stereotypes are true then._

“Yeah.”

“I’ll be back soon,” Lance gave the other finger guns and laughed a bit when he rolled his eyes.

 

 

The whole time Lance was on his trip to and from the kitchen, his thoughts seemed to drift back to Keith and being able to talk with him some more before bed. What he didn’t expect was to find Keith asleep on his bed.

He padded over quietly to the boy on his bed and shook him in hopes of waking him up. After trying for maybe a minute or so, he gave up. The hybrid was dead asleep.

In a moment of weakness, intrigue and maybe enchantment, he laid down on his bed directly across from Keith. His dark hair had fallen in front of his eyes and when Lance brushed them aside, he realized how long Keith’s eyelashes were. One ear seemed to twitch a bit and he couldn’t help but reach to pet it. It was- well it was really soft. That was kind of expected though. What he didn’t expect though was for the hybrid to lean into his touch.

_He’s… kind of cute._

Keith put his head upon Lance’s chest and let his arm drape over him.

_Quiznak. Really cute._

He continued to pet Keith’s ear and for the first time that night, he was overcome with drowsiness. He had _never_ seen the Red Paladin like this before, but it wasn’t too strange. It seemed, in a way, kind of natural? It just- somehow, it made a lot of sense.

“Good night, kitty.”

Sleep took over then, as Lance was finally able to close his eyes and rest.

 

 

The first thing Lance noticed when he awoke was the weight on his chest. The second was that fact that _Keith Kogane_ was cuddled up next to him. Memories of last night flashed through Lance’s mind as he looked at the boy, still sleeping, that was using him as a pillow.

Only a minute after did a large _thud_ resonate throughout the castle, suddenly forcing Keith out of his slumber as Pidge’s voice came on the castle speaker, “Hey guys, don’t worry about that, just broke some old tech.”

The hybrid only seemed to have a few seconds to render where he was before, “Lance? Why are you in my bed?”

“Uh… This is actually my bed. You fell asleep last night before I came back and I couldn’t wake you up so I just let you stay here. You sleep alright?”

Keith stretched out his arms and twisted his spine and neck, audible _pops_ coming from where he was cracking his bones, before turning to face Lance, “Yeah. You?”

“Pretty good. You know, for being a black cat, you’re a good luck charm.”

“What?”

“You have black hair and black ears and a tail, and black cats are usually bad luck but you kind of ended my insomnia so it’s… Okay, nevermind. Sleeping with you helped me fall asleep.”

He seemed kind of shocked at being told he was ‘a good luck charm’, his response being, “Oh. Thank you.”

“Nope. Thank _you_.”

Lance got out of bed and threw on his Blue Lion slippers and robe, before turning to Keith who was scratching his ear. The whole situation was… It was kind of awkward. Most of the time that people fall asleep together in the same bed unexpectedly was the result of a one-night stand. Not a bonding moment. The silence between them was thick and persistent, until Keith opened his mouth to speak, just to be interrupted by Hunk on the speakers, “If you aren’t already awake because of Pidge, I made space waffles for breakfast.”

_Thank God for Deus Hunk Machina._

“Space waffles?”

“Yes, space waffles. They’re basically regular waffles with the closest alien fruit to blueberries we could find and we’re in space so, you know, space waffles. They’re really good.”

Keith leaped out of the bed as his tail waved around on the floor in what was probably contentedness, “Then let’s get moving.”

Lance couldn’t help but give a chuckle at the hybrid’s excitement and go to ruffle his hair without thinking, before moving his hand over to rub an ear between his finger and his thumb. _How are they so soft?_

Keith glared at him for a second, only to give this breathy laugh, “Didn’t know you’d be this fascinated by my ears,” Lance pulled his hand away only to find Keith leaning into his touch, “I trust you and it… it feels nice. Oh yeah, and thank you for last night.”

_Oh quiznak yeah, this is great. He enjoyed the bonding moment. It was really good though…_

“Lance?”

“What! Ah, sorry, zoned out. Space waffle time?”

“Space waffle time.”

Keith brought up some topic that Lance was maybe half-engaged in as they walked down the hall, but for the first time in, well, forever, the two made up a pretty good team, both in battle and in everyday life.


	2. Wear it on my sleeve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonding Moment 2.0 actually led to, you know, a bond between Keith and Lance and maybe something more~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so this is mmm kind of late to be posted but i can use an er visit, end of school assignments, and that good old Feel Bad Time™ as an excuse
> 
> the chapter title names are taken from the chorus of "moving to new york" by the wombats

Keith didn’t forget Bonding Moment 2.0 like Lance did with the original (he was injured and rushed to a healing pod, of course, he’s not going to remember being cradled in Keith’s arms if he’s only half-conscious!). So this time, it actually brought the two closer together. The hybrid would sometimes reach out to the other boy for sparring and Lance would try to get him to just hang out and chill with him between missions, exploring the castle and watching B-rated Altean movies which were worthy of being on Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

It was so unexpected, but they fell into a natural rhythm with each other, not really realizing how much closer and comfortable they were with each other they had become ever since Bonding Moment 2.0.

The first time Lance recognized that maybe, just maybe, he was the one that Keith was closest to - besides Shiro - on the castle came up a few weeks later after dinner.

With being in space for so long, Hunk had taken up the hobby of trying to make dishes using the ingredients he had found on different planets they’d visited whenever possible, and that night, whatever he managed to concoct was devoured by Keith at record speed.

Pidge was the first to pipe up about his empty plate, "Wow, you really liked that, huh?"

His cheeks grew red and ears drew back, "Yeah. I mean, it's really good and I also really haven't eaten a lot today so... yeah."

The conversation continued as usual; talking about missions, training simulations, and the hidden nooks and crannies of the castle. That changed when Hunk was making his way around the table then, picking up some plates on the way back to the kitchen. When he neared Keith’s chair, he moved his hand to pet the hybrid’s ears, “You should really eat more, but I'm glad that you like this more than food goo-“

“Don’t. Touch. My. Ears.”

As soon as Hunk even laid a finger on them, Keith had snatched his hand away and was holding it in a vice grip, squeezing it and glaring daggers into Hunk’s eyes. Hunk was… frightened, to say the very least.

All liveliness and warmth in the room dropped. The others all looked at Keith, body tense, tail frozen, ears drawn as far back into his dark hair as possible. They all knew that he didn't have the best reactions to things at times, but this wasn't like his usual anger. Eventually, he realized the reactions of the people around him, muttered a quick "sorry", and raced out of the room.

It was only when Lance got into his own bed at night that he realized Keith never reacted like that with him. He chalked it up to being too tired to react.

  
  


Lance realized that his bond with Keith led them to physical closeness happened during a game of Mario Kart.

Keith sucked at video games. He could somehow get perfect scores on the simulator at the Garrison, but the boy couldn’t play Mario Kart? It was okay though because he was more than content to just sit and watch Lance play with the AI or whoever was up for a challenge (aka Pidge).

It often got heated between those two with yelling and sitting on the floor with their backs against the couch in the ‘gaming room'. Allura banned them from the lounge because they apparently “shrieked like a bunch of klanmürils", which left Keith to claim the couch as his own to lay on.

Keith was on the couch until he decided after watching a spectacular failure of Wario’s Gold Mine for the third time in a row.

He stretched his arms out, before shifting off the couch and standing in front of Lance. He motioned for Lance to move a bit and once Lance's lap was open, he laid between his legs and put his head on his chest.

Holy quiznak, “What are you doing.”

“I’m bored and the couch isn’t the most comfortable,” Keith’s ears laid flat against his head as he started to fiddle with his fingers. “Is this alright?”

“Yeah! Yeah, it’s definitely alright, this is really cool, no doubt, no doubt.”

Bonding Moment 2.0 or not, this was not expected. At all. Lance was involved in an intergalactic war with a 10,000-year-old dictator and had even met mermaids, but Keith Kogane wanting to cuddle with him in a non-sleep-addled state? _Quiznaking wild._

The hybrid forced his mind back on track with telling him to select a course that he wanted to watch Lance go through, and after winning a series of races, he set down his Wii remote to ask a question.

“Can I touch your ears?”

Lance could feel the hybrid’s shoulders shrug against his chest, “Yeah, go ahead.”

“You sure?”

Keith sighed, “Yes, I’m sure. Go for it.”

“Nice, they’re super soft. Do you like it when I pet- wait, I-“

“You can call it petting, don’t worry. It’s... it’s pretty relaxing.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.” Keith just melting into Lance’s hold

“Kitty, You didn’t let Hunk touch them though that one time after dinner. You _really_ didn’t want Hunk touching them.”

Keith tensed up a bit, “Oh, yeah... I just- I’ve had a lot of people just try to touch them because growing up, kids are kind of mean and I’ve had my ears and tail pulled on a lot and just touched without my permission."

“But you trust me with them?”

The hybrid tilted his head back a bit to try to look at Lance, “Yeah, I trust you.”

With that, the room must have gotten a lot hotter really quickly because Lance could feel his cheeks heat up and his heart skipped a beat as the boy in his lap gave him a faint smile before looking at the screen again, dragging Lance's hands back into his hair.

_Yep, close bond._

  
  


If anybody was asked, they would say that the person Keith trusted the most was Shiro. They wouldn't be wrong either.

None of the paladins knew how long the two had known each other or even how they met. They just knew that the hybrid trusted Shiro with his emotions, so when Shiro pulled Lance aside after training one day saying, "Can I ask you something about Keith?", his stomach twisted up and heart sped up as worries took over.

"Uh... yeah? Yeah, sure. What about?"

Shiro gave a sigh, "I've known Keith for a while now, and I don't think I've seen him act with anybody like how he acts with you."

 _Okay, kind of cryptic,_  "What do you mean?"

"He's talked a lot about you lately, and it seems like he's actually comfortable and open with you. It took me months to convince him to even let me touch him, let alone hug him. You care about him, and I just thought that you should be thanked for that."

“Thanks, I mean, you’re welcome. I just like spending time with him.”

Shiro looked up at the ceiling for a moment, giving a huff after a while, and asked Lance another question.

"You like him, right?"

 _Weird question,_ "Yeah, he's a good friend."

"No, I meant do you have a crush on him?"

Lance’s brain stopped working then, he could swear Shiro asked  _him_  if he had a  _crush_ on  _Keith_ , so he could only stumble out a "Wait, what?"

"A crush? On Keith?"

"No... Why would you think that?” he hesitated in his response.

"Oh. I'm just going off of what Keith's told me about you and how I've seen the two of you interact. He trusts you and you don't act with him like the aliens you flirt with, you show a lot of patience and kindness. Keith is also somewhat touch-starved and isolated so I'm probably exaggerating how he talks about you."

"I do care about him just, just not romantically, you know?"

The older one gave a quick sigh, "Okay. Uh, look, Lance? I don't care if you like him or if you don't, I just want to see him happy and he seems a lot happier with you. Whatever you do, don't break his heart."

“I wouldn’t dare too.”

“Good,” Shiro started walking to the lounge and away from Lance, only to pause in the middle of the corridor and turn his head a bit, the tuft of white hair barely being visible, "There's something else I want to tell you: Keith's never allowed me to pet him and cuddle with him like he's done with you, so he obviously cares about you.”

He eventually turned a corner, Lance losing sight of him. Lance had never expected a one-on-one ‘serious’ conversation with the team leader, nor a talk about Keith, but being asked if he had a crush on Keith? That’s improbable as aliens. Aliens were, well he saw them every day so maybe that wasn’t the best comparison, but the chance of that happening was next to zero.

_Me having a crush on Keith? Yeah, sure it’ll happen._

  
  


The only earth movies the paladins found at the space mall were  _Horrors of Spider Island_ ,  _Touch of Satan_ , and  _Cry Wilderness_. All of them were bad, but Pidge and Keith voted for  _Cry Wilderness_ and won. Lance supposed he could be watching a story of a boy being sent by Big Foot (really only half a Big Foot costume) to save his father (who had a bunch of raccoons in his house). It sucked, but it was right up Keith and Pidge's alley for bad commentary.

Lance and Shiro's "talk" had been a few weeks ago, yet it still kept bubbling up to the front of Lance's mind. His attention started to turn from the quiznaking-awful movie and over to Keith, laughing with Pidge as they talked about the movie's ‘family bowl cut’. He really was pretty when he smiled.

He'd seen Keith before in solo-training sessions and wow, it was some good stuff. He wasn’t exactly buff like Shiro was, but was a lot more lean and lithe, flexible and fast. Lance is pretty sure that he’s seen Keith do a flip before? Or the splits? Just, wow. Not to mention that he usually trained in his paladin under armor suit ever since Lance coerced him into actually wearing proper clothing for things like training or sleeping. Sometimes, Keith would notice Lance after a round with the gladiator and wave his hand a little, breathing hard with wild hair and bright wide violet eyes.

_Huh, Keith’s actually kind of hot._

_Wait, I think Keith’s hot. Quiznak, yeah of course he is, doesn’t mean I have a crush on him or anything, I just really like spending time with him, seeing him laugh, caring for him, generally just being with him-_

“Lance?”

Keith had just noticed the other boy probably just staring off into space (at the wall, not out the window), and his ears and tail were flicking with intrigue.  _Cute. Wait, no._

“I- I just, yes! I mean, what?”

“How are you liking the film?”

“It’s... interesting?”

The hybrid gave a breathy laugh, “Well, you’re not wrong. Just watch out in case Pidge finds her dad through an amulet given to her by Big Foot,” he winked.

Keith turned his attention back to the screen, mentioning something to Pidge about somebody’s hairstyle, only to be playfully hit by her. His hair was all over the place, wearing casual clothes they found at the Space Mall, laughing at maybe one of the worst movies Lance had ever seen, but he just looked so happy like that, and yeah, Lance wanted to keep seeing him like that…

_Quiznak._

_I have a crush on Keith._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "cry wilderness" is a real movie and is on mst3k the return so i highly recommend watching it please do this for me

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first of three parts, so if you liked this, there's gonna be more! a lot more fluff and a lot more of my most favorite kitty boy, to quote a certain mcelroy
> 
> i'm on tumblr too! https://bluevelvt.tumblr.com/


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